Head on collision
by rapidolli
Summary: Complete
1. Forenote

Head on Collision  
Rapidolli -  
  
Hey, hey, hey! Before I write anything I just want to get it straight I do not own Recess, any of the bands mentioned, and I wish I did, but I don't own any of the horror movies mentioned.  
  
And to understand things. this story is set in present day and not in the 90's where the recess stories take place. I tried to make everyone in character but was unsuccessful in some places. So. enjoy! MWAH!  
  
- Rapidolli 


	2. Prologue: Mudshovel

Prologue. Mudshovel  
  
Spinelli sat in class, reading the pages in her history book that was meant to be homework. The school constantly ran the air conditioner, and she was freezing to death. The weather outside of the school was dark, cold and cloudy. At least there would still be recess, she thought as she looked out the window.  
  
It was 9:55, and the five minutes left seemed to last forever. Not able to concentrate on whoever this Ferdinand Magellan was, she set the history book aside and pulled out a sheet of lined paper. Lately getting into the habit, she would usually write her favorite lyrics to songs down.  
  
It gave her to think of something she actually liked, and it looked like she would be doing the writing segment of the homework, anyway. Spinelli began writing down the words to the song 'with you' by Linkin Park. Along the third verse, the bell rang and she took no time to fold up the paper and stick it in her jacket pocket.  
  
Walking outside of the room, she caught up with her five friends, TJ, Vince, Gretchen, Gus and Mikey. They went outside, and the humidness of the air made her relax. "Man, I was about to die of hypothermia in there." she groaned, tilting her head back and letting what was left of the sun's rays warm her up.  
  
TJ nodded and automatically headed for the kick ball field. "Anyway, I call team captain."  
  
Spinelli shook off the cold feeling and called out, "I'll get the ball!"  
  
Walking over to the cart, she knew Randall would give her a good one. She really creeped him out without her friends around to hold her back. Spinelli smiled to herself, thinking of all the times she threatened to beat him up. The smaller kid took one look at her and immediately reached for the best ball he had left and carefully gave it to her. Spinelli grinned, taking it and walking away.  
  
She returned to the field and tossed the ball to TJ. Apparently, he still was a team captain and had already picked the team members. "Whose team am I on?"  
  
"We have even numbers already, you don't matter!" The opposing team leader said, and she clenched her teeth. "And what do you expect me to do?"  
  
"Sit out!" he snapped, and Spinelli took an aggravated step towards him. Gretchen walked out from TJ's team. "I'll sit out for you. After all, I did replace your spot on the team."  
  
Knowing Gretchen was never picked for anything, she stopped. "It's okay. I wasn't feeling too good anyway."  
  
That was partially true, because as soon as she finished her sentence a tired feeling fell over her. Gretchen thanked her and ran back to the team. Spinelli watched as they began the first kick of the game and walked elsewhere. She remembered the lyrics she was writing and pulled the paper out and found a pen in another pocket by chance. She sat down on one of the seesaws (she really did hate them and found no use for them except for sitting) and began finishing off what she wrote.  
  
About two minutes later she wrote the last verse and re-read the words, imaging the music with it and everything. One of the things she was good at was remembering all kinds of music. Even if she absolutely hated it, she would remember every small detail, even where they were taking a breath. A small droplet of water hit her nose and she wiped it off, looking up at the gray sky. Rain began to fall in sheets, and she stuffed the paper back in her pocket, not wanting the ink to run.  
  
Kids also scrambled for shelter, even though in less than three minutes the bell would sound. She got up and closed her eyes, breathing in the cold air. Rain always made her happy, and Spinelli smiled to herself as she began to slowly spin, not caring if other people saw her for once.  
  
"Out of the way!"  
  
She opened her eyes, and saw the familiar 'guards' carrying King Bob and his throne on the wooden carrier. thing. She angrily looked up at the king, and knew he couldn't have told her to move. He looked zoned out and was soaking wet. He must have hated rain. Spinelli sighed and headed on in, hearing the bell.  
  
The rest of the day seemed distant and the bad news was her teacher was making them go to people's houses with some kind of catalog and ask them if they wanted to order anything. It was all for a school fundraiser. It was the familiar case of winning something for the most people signed up, and the familiar sense of her not caring at all. Like always though, they had to sell something.  
  
Spinelli rubbed her arms trying to keep warm. Why do they have to do something so stupid, and it didn't even count as a grade? The catalogs were passed out, and it was a bunch of stupid stuff like cheap quality shirts, baseball hats and like always, the unappetizing-looking cookies. How could anyone want to actually buy this crap?  
  
The class left, and she and her friends walked home. Their conversation was so far away sounding, though she was really right next to the person talking. Then she realized only fifteen minutes later she was walking home by herself. She always was the last person to get home. The rain was still continuing, and Spinelli was glad for once that she was alone.  
  
She realized that later on she and her friends would have to get together and do the whole selling thing. She groaned to herself and eventually reached home. She went on inside her room. The walls were whitish-yellow, even though she wanted them to be painted gray. There was a huge case of CDs in one corner, and a TV on a desk. The walls were decorated with wrestlers, bands and movie posters.  
  
She slung her backpack on the ground and stretched herself across the bed, exhaling slowly. Today was going to really suck. She could sense it. Suddenly, the phone rang and she managed to pick up the phone, even though she didn't feel like talking.  
  
".Yeah?"  
  
"Hey, Spinelli. All of us are getting together to do the whole selling thing. After it, we're going to the movies."  
  
She recognized the voice belonging to TJ. "Sure. Why not?"  
  
The phone clicked, and she knew he hung up. Sounds like he's in a hurry. She went over to her backpack and dug out the catalog. "Bye, mom! I'm going to do this selling stuff for school," she called and headed out the door, not waiting for a response.  
  
She went over to TJ's house and went on in without knocking. Everyone was waiting for her, and they immediately left. They went to about five people's houses, and all but one didn't even bother to look through a catalog. "We have a better chance of getting more customers by splitting up." Gretchen announced as they were walking.  
  
"Sure, as long as we can get home sooner. I'm freezing." Vince commented.  
  
"Okay. Then let's just meet back here in twenty minutes." Gretchen said, and they all split up.  
  
Alone once again, Spinelli walked down an unfamiliar street alone, kicking a rock. She didn't care about getting anything done on this stupid catalog. It didn't even count as a grade. She went over to a random house and knocked. An old man barely opened the door a crack and eyed her through the space.  
  
"Excuse me, my school is selling stuff as a fundraiser and we have a catalog you can -" she began, but the door slammed shut. "Thanks a lot, buddy!" she called, walking away. She tried the house across the street but got the same response.  
  
Doing the same thing along the road, only two out of the ten people looked and decided to buy something. They most likely took pity on her, especially the lady with about twenty cats in her front yard. Walking down the road, she heard the faint sound of music and ignored it until she arrived at the house. By now, she could tell it wasn't from a radio or CD. It wasn't anything recorded. She eventually recognized the electric guitar playing 'Mudshovel' by Staind.  
  
Spinelli knocked on the door, preparing to be ignored again. The music stopped and someone opened the door. She raised her eyebrows. "King Bob?"  
  
".Yeah?" he asked. This time, he wasn't wearing a crown or cape and had a guitar. He looked so different when he wasn't in school. At this part, mad barking could be heard from inside and a black greyhound came charging up from behind. King Bob used the Guitar to block it from getting out.  
  
"Well, what?" he repeated, slightly coldly. Spinelli shook her head. "Nothing. Some stupid thing we had to do for homework. Selling for a fundraiser."  
  
She could never bring herself to call someone 'your highness' or 'majesty.' It made him, or anyone else sound more important.  
  
".Right." Bob flatly replied.  
  
"You listen to Staind?" she asked, trying to talk over the sound of the mad dog growling and barking. He finally unplugged the extension cord from his guitar and amp and shut the door so he was standing outside. "Yeah. You do too or something?"  
  
She nodded. "They're my second favorite band."  
  
"Then who's your favorite?"  
  
She wondered why he would even bother to waste his breath on her. "You wouldn't know him."  
  
"So?" He shrugged. Spinelli replied, "Marilyn Manson."  
  
"Really? You don't get all emotional over the lyrics?" Bob laughed, and she absolutely hated it when people did that.  
  
"Why would I? Do you?" She smirked, and he stopped his laughing immediately.  
  
"I'm the King! You shouldn't talk about me like that." He said, sticking his nose up in the spoiled-king-that-gets-whatever-he-desires manner. She grinned again. "Out of school hours, you're technically king of nothing."  
  
It was quiet for a long time. "If I sign up for something, and then force my parents to pay, will you go away?" he folded his arms across his chest.  
  
"Yup." She handed him the catalog and he flipped open to a random page. "All of this stuff is stupid! You know that, right?" he asked, filling something out.  
  
"I know. I hate it when we have to do homework that doesn't even count as a grade." She said as he handed her the catalog back. "I still have to get seven other people to sign up. I'm gonna get that done."  
  
She turned, heard the door open and immediately felt a weight push her down. She realized it was the dog, and instead of biting her to death it was attacking her by tongue. Spinelli laughed and didn't bother to push it off. "What's his name?"  
  
King Bob managed to get the dog off of her. "Malaki." he replied and got him to calm down. Malaki watched Spinelli get up and wipe all the drool off of her cheek. "Isn't that the name of the kid in -"  
  
"-Children of the Corn? I know."  
  
"Do you like horror or something?" She asked and he smiled. "Yeah. You can tell because my cats name is 'Voorhees.' "  
  
"Like Friday the 13th Jason? That's just too good. Except I'd name mine Kruegar." She said. "That way, my cat can beat up your cat like in Freddy vs. Jason."  
  
"You saw that?" King Bob asked, sounding disgusted, trying to keep the guitar out of Malaki's slobbery reach.  
  
Spinelli acted like she said something wrong. "I snuck in."  
  
It was quiet. "Same here."  
  
She raised her eyebrows. "Now, it is complete chance that we like both the same band and movies."  
  
He shrugged, and Spinelli realized what time it was. "Oh, man! If I don't get going home now I'm gonna be back by nine. I gotta go!"  
  
She waved and went running down the street. King Bob only stared and then looked down, seeing his guitar covered in drool and Malaki giving him a dog- grin.  
  
Spinelli ran down the road, wondering how long her friends have been waiting. She spent at least ten minutes just talking to King Bob. Then she realized it was almost inhuman during school for a sixth grader to talk to a fourth grader. Especially when the sixth grader was the king. Her friends came into view and she ran over. "Sorry, you guys. I was talking to someone I knew and kind of stalled."  
  
"It's okay, Spinelli." Mikey reassured her.  
  
"AND I can't go to the movies. I didn't know it would take this long to get all of this done. I gotta get home!" She added. She really hated her parents for having an early curfew. But if she stayed up past it, they always unhooked her TV so she couldn't watch wrestling.  
  
With a wave, she bolted down the street.  
  
At home, she once again plopped down on the bed, tired. She only had three people sign up to buy something, other than both of her parents. Like always, she'd use this time to think about ideas for songs. Another one of her good talents was writing songs. She could make them sound as good as real music lyrics, and could write just about anything. She thought for a while, running over topics. How she likes darkness, how she is mad at some people.  
  
Then a topic popped up in her mind, and she sat up, surprised at herself. That last thought would be as amazing as murder at school. And anyway, it broke all of the 'invisible and non-written rules' for the fourth graders. She plopped back down, realizing her thought was true and brought her hands up to her face, in a groan. 


	3. 1 With you

1. With you  
  
The next day was warm, and the morning wasn't exactly as happy.  
  
"I AM UP!" Spinelli screamed downstairs to her parents. She made an agitated noise and messily put up her hair. She grabbed the catalog and opened it, forgetting how many people signed up. Only five? She groaned and slammed it down into her backpack and slung it around her shoulder.  
  
Running down the stairs, her parents were sitting at the table reading the paper. She grabbed a glass of orange juice and downed it in two seconds. "Ashley. Please. Take time to drink."  
  
"The name's Spinelli." she grumbled and headed out the door. If she got a tardy, she would be in detention for sure. She ran down the roads, hoping to catch her friends so they would be late with her. But they never appeared. "Dammit!" she cursed. Usually, other people would act like cursing was a big, horrific thing, but she saw them as words that just expressed feeling. They were fun, anyway.  
  
The school stood ahead, and she heard the bell ring. Spinelli picked up speed and went on in, running down the halls with her shoes squeaking on the floor. Did she have any other homework? She ran over last nights events and then suddenly halted, remembering the thought. And remembering it was true and how big it was.  
  
She suddenly felt the pain in her side from running for twenty minutes non- stop. She walked, trying to catch her breath. It was true. She wanted it to happen. And it was so. weird for a fourth grader. Her classroom appeared and she went in, glad to see people were still getting ready. She sat down in her seat without a word and stared at the windows. Everything seemed so different, now.  
  
At recess, Spinelli gladly sat out of the game of kickball, with the surprise of the other players. She used the idea that 'Gretchen should be treated fairly, and should get buffed up for a real game, anyway.' Now, she sat in a corner trying to sort things out while staring at him.  
  
Okay. so she liked King Bob. A lot. and now it was like her eyes just opened up to the real him. At first, she pictured him as having no life and enjoyed turning peoples requests down. She saw him sitting up in his throne, kind of slouching. Someone was talking to him, and managed to make him smile. Probably out of the person being so pitiful it was funny.  
  
Spinelli smiled, too. She used to think his smiles were evil and brought living hell upon the playground, but not anymore. Now he was laughing, and she realized just how gentle he looked, even though it was out of seeing someone pathetically pitiful. Maybe she liked him because they were interested in the same things. Then she realized that she kind of always had this attraction toward him as an example of being a person, even if it wasn't what it is now.  
  
"What's wrong with you, Ashley Spinelli?" asked an annoying voice.  
  
Her lip annoyingly quivered as she forced a mad grin. She hated it when people called her by first name. "Randall. I'm starting at ten. Ten, nine, eight."  
  
He amazingly stood. She got an even more twisted grin knowing she might actually be able to nail a big one across his misshapen head. ".Seven, six, ONE!"  
  
At one, she sprang up and grabbed his shirt. "Why aren't you running, weasel?"  
  
Randall, now lifted up off of the ground, looked nervous but still talked. "I know why you're eyeing the king."  
  
She immediately felt her stomach do a flip. She narrowed her eyes and then pressed him up against the wall. "Keep talking."  
  
"You're interested in politics!" Randall made a weird laugh and she dropped him. "Oh, no! You figured me out." she rolled her eyes.  
  
"And that's not all. I'm telling people. Imagine what they'll say when they figure out the Ashley Spinelli is actually associated with it!" He went running off like a retard, and she busted out laughing to herself. He was getting cheaper every day.  
  
She realized it was good that he was that far off from what she was really thinking. Randall usually was very correct with his guesses. So, if he was that far off, no one would have a clue what she was really thinking. Standing and smiling at his stupidness, she turned and then felt her stomach do another kind of flip. King Bob was looking right at her. When their eyes met, he looked over to where a guard was talking to him.  
  
Spinelli looked away, too, blushing. She wasn't a shy little girl who is afraid to talk to boys. was she? If she would blush from that, talking to him might be hard, too. Would she have to prove it to herself by talking?  
  
The bell rang and she walked in, being sure to be at an angle so King Bob would pass next to her. When he did, some random kid was asking for something, and he didn't seem to be listening, but annoyed.  
  
Getting from school about two days later, she flipped her TV on and went to the TV guide channel. While looking at all of the times of shows, she saw a preview for a movie called 'Underworld' that was rated R. It was something like Vampires vs. Werewolves. She immediately wanted the vampires to win. She then got an idea in her head. She could prove to herself that she wasn't a shy little girl.  
  
At school the next day, she was anticipating her idea.  
  
"Spinelli, are you alright? You seem happier than normal." Gus pointed out, but she shrugged, smiling.  
  
"I'm just in a good mood. That's all." She grinned.  
  
"He's right, you know." Vince commented. "You're kind of acting like an Ashley."  
  
She stopped walking altogether and slowly turned her head around. "SHUT UP!"  
  
They jumped from the outburst, and then looked at each other, confused when she continued with her normal happiness. Spinelli gladly opened the doors, and ran right into Randall. He was in mid-sentence and was talking to a crowd that was giving him looks like he was overly reacting. "-into politics."  
  
He gave her a smug look. "Well, it's out! What are you gonna do?"  
  
The crowd shook their heads, smiling at how stupid he was and walked away. Spinelli was now really sick of him. "What I'm gonna do? I don't know. But what I think you should do is go screw a mailbox or something to pass you're time."  
  
He gasped and had a surprised look on his face. It was the most offending thing ever said to him! He just gaped as she happily walked down the halls. Her friends were standing with him, too. "What was all THAT about?" TJ asked to no one in particular.  
  
At recess, she walked up to the jungle gym. The guards leaped to block the way. "What do you want, tomboy?" one of them snapped. She smiled. "To see the king, obviously. It's VERY important."  
  
They parted, talking amongst themselves as she went up to see the King. Once on the highest level, King Bob sat looking the other way. His eyes were on a group of people talking way too loud. The occasional word 'king' could be heard, so it was no surprise he'd be focusing on them.  
  
Suddenly, a wave of nervousness hit her. It wasn't as easy as she thought it would be. "Um. King Bob?"  
  
He didn't look at her. She repeated his name, and he still was too zoned out to hear. She finally poked his shoulder and he jumped. "What was that for?!"  
  
He turned and saw it was Spinelli. "Oh. What do you want?"  
  
She once again remembered just how frustrating he could be. "Have you seen the commercials for the movie 'Underworld?' "  
  
He nodded, looking like he didn't know what this had to do with recess.  
  
"Well, are you planning on sneaking into it?" she asked, and he nodded again. She continued, "I kind of have this bad luck of being caught all the time and I REALLY want to see it since it's werewolves vs. vampires. I was wondering if you could help me sneak in? I'm voting for the vampires."  
  
He stared at her. He slowly answered, "Why would you need me? It's just a movie, and anyway, I wouldn't do it if my life depended on it."  
  
"Just a movie?" She laughed. "Yeah. Especially how you named two animals after horror icons. Like I said, I'm really bad at sneaking in. Anyway, wouldn't you have a better chance, too? Because you wouldn't be aloud in the theaters ever again if you get caught."  
  
"Fine. Then when are you seeing it?" he asked, slightly rolling his eyes.  
  
She smiled, glad at his slight stupidity and how he was so unaware of what she was doing this for. "The seven showing on Friday. It'll be really crowded and easy to get in by then."  
  
He nodded and turned back to the group, listening. She did a happy bounce and walked over to the 'exit' of the top floor. "Spinelli."  
  
She turned to look at him. He had this really concentrated look in his eyes. ".Werewolves are so gonna win."  
  
Spinelli grinned and left. Once out of view of anyone and on the floor below, she pumped her fist in the air. Just being by him was like a feeling she never felt. After all, this was the only time she had really liked someone like this.  
  
Throughout the rest of the day, every time she saw him in the halls he would be smiling at someone. Whenever he smiled, she felt warm and happy. Not something she would feel too often. After school, she and her friends were walking home. After TJ, Vince, Mikey, and Gus left at their houses, it was only Spinelli and Gretchen.  
  
"Spinelli, since females detect emotion much more easily than males and it has been scientifically proven, I'm sure I'm the first one to ask you this: What's wrong, and why are you acting so ditzy?" Gretchen asked out of nowhere.  
  
Spinelli cocked her head to the side. "Ditzy? I haven't been anything near ditzy."  
  
Gretchen counted on her fingers, "First, during kickball instead of running to kick the ball you SKIPPED and then kicked it. Second, at Lunch you were staring off into space with this goofy face and third, I can just tell there is a major difference in attitude. So, tell me. Who is he?"  
  
Spinelli stopped. "What do ya mean, who is he?"  
  
Gretchen stopped along with her. "You're in love. Or at least a temporary crush. I know people make a big deal out of it, but it's natural. I bet over half of the class likes someone."  
  
"You'll laugh."  
  
"No, I won't. We're both friends, and I understand that it's very immature for people to overreact about something like this."  
  
Spinelli mumbled something, and Gretchen nudged her. ".King Bob."  
  
"The King?" repeated Gretchen, and Spinelli was glad she didn't laugh. "I don't care if he's two years older than me, it isn't that much of a difference, and it shouldn't matter anyway, so -"  
  
"Spinelli! I don't have anything against it. But can I give you a suggestion?"  
  
She looked at her intently, like she wanted to get any thoughts out of Gretchen that were negative. ".Just don't tell any of our guy friends. They take any kind of romance the wrong way. Even if it's in a movie, they overreact."  
  
"I'm not stupid enough to tell them!" Spinelli replied, acting very offended.  
  
"So." Gretchen adjusted her glasses. "Any success in getting him to notice you, or whatever your plans are?"  
  
"We're seeing Underworld," she quickly said. "Not as a date though. He's helping me sneak in because we both love horror movies and he's snuck into movies before."  
  
Gretchen was amazed at how soon she could get that. She'd never seen someone that wasn't that nervous. "Oh. How do you know he likes horror, too?"  
  
"You know how we were selling those catalogs a couple of days ago? Well, I went to his house and we kind of talked for like. ten minutes. He plays guitar and has a dog named 'Malaki' and a cat named 'Voorhees.' Pretty cool, huh? He likes my kind of music, too."  
  
"I was wondering why it was taking you so long. Well, I gotta go. You might not have noticed but we've been standing in front of my house for a long time."  
  
She walked up to the porch, waved at Spinelli and went inside. For about five seconds she just stood there. It felt good to know someone else will know, but not go running to the mainstream, point at Spinelli and shout, 'SHE'S IN LOVE!'  
  
She started walking. It was true. She was actually in love. It wasn't a crush. She loved him. She started walking again, and then noticed something white poking out of one of her jacket pockets. She pulled it out, and read it. It was the lyrics of 'with you.' She had wrote it a long time ago. Re- reading it, she realized just how convenient the lyrics were.  
  
I woke up in a dream today  
  
to the cold of the static  
And put my cold feet on the floor  
  
Forgot all about yesterday  
  
Remembering I'm pretending  
  
to be where I'm not anymore  
  
A little taste of Hypocrisy  
And I'm left in the wake up the mistake  
Slow to react  
  
even thought you're so close to me  
  
You're still so distant  
  
And I can't bring you back  
  
Its true the way I feel  
  
Was promised by your face  
  
the sound of your voice  
  
painted on my memories  
  
Even if you're not with me  
  
I'm with you  
  
You, Now I see  
  
keeping everything inside  
  
You, Now I see  
  
Even when I close my eyes  
  
I hit you  
And you hit me back  
We both fall to the floor  
The rest of the day stands still  
Fine line between this and that  
When things go wrong I pretend the past isn't real  
Now I'm trapped in this memory  
And I'm left in the wake of the mistake  
  
Slow to react  
  
Even though you're close to me  
You're still so distant  
And I can't bring you back  
  
Its true the way I feel  
  
Was promised by your face  
  
the sound of your voice  
  
painted on my memories  
  
Even if you're not with me  
  
I'm with you  
  
You, now I see  
  
keeping everything inside  
  
You, now I see  
  
Even when I close my eyes  
  
No matter how far we've come  
  
I can't wait to see tomorrow  
With you  
  
She stared at the paper, walking. How could she like him? No. just two seconds earlier she actually said loved. It was impossible! She hated him before, and he most likely hated her. Did that mean that they'd never. . . Wait a minute?! Whatever inhuman thought would come next would be WRONG! A fourth grader plus a sixth grader would equal just plain wrong! And who ever heard of going out?! It sounded like venom, and Spinelli twitched. CURSES TO BEING SO INDECISIVE!  
  
She came to her house and went up to her room like always. Sitting on the bed, she groaned. Why did she even bother to ask herself why she had to like him? She could always just look at all the bad sides of him and force herself to hate him like always! Spinelli smirked, glad that she finally found a solution. The good side was that she would get to a see a good movie.  
  
- - -  
  
Spinelli walked down the streets wearing a black jacket, but nothing else changed. She eventually learned before that wearing dark helped with not getting noticed. It was at least six forty, and by the time she would get to the theaters, it would be only ten minutes later.  
  
Once arriving there, she looked around and noticed King Bob. Wow, he actually decided to show up, she thought and walked on over. "Any ideas?" she asked, tilting her head toward the ticket booth.  
  
He shrugged. "I just wait until the movie ends and someone walks out of the back exit. If that doesn't work, you just go in with the crowd."  
  
He's really careless and is too stupid to know what would happen if we're caught. It'd be HIS fault, she thought, remembering to notice everything bad. Bob looked out towards the exit door, and grabbed her arm. "WHAT?!" She shouted while being dragged along.  
  
He let go and made a mad leap to grab the door. He didn't really look too royal doing that. Then she realized someone came out from the movie and he didn't want the door to lock from the outside. On the ground now and holding the door slightly open, he looked around. "Is there anything to prop the door open with?" he asked. Spinelli looked around and saw a single rock.  
  
Even though it was only two inches wide, she threw it to him. Bob caught it and kicked it into place near the hinges. 'That was so close. If he didn't catch it we would have to be sneaking in from the front,' Spinelli glared at him, thinking.  
  
He then leaned up against the wall and slid down to where he was sitting on the pavement. "Um, what are you doing?" Spinelli asked. He looked up at her like she was a retard. "It'll be a while until the clean up crew finishes whatever they're doing. You might as well wait."  
  
'Good god! Can anyone be any more expectant? I swear. if he -'  
  
"Is there a reason why every time I say something you glare at me like I just killed someone?" Bob asked, with a crooked smile. "You're the one that needed me, and I just came here for the movie so don't be expecting for me to treat you like a queen."  
  
"I have the same excuse. You're not king of anything outside of school, so I don't have to treat you like one, either!" Spinelli spat out. He got this angry look in his eyes. During the school, he would've ordered his guards to be on her faster than a hobo on a sandwich. But now, he couldn't do anything.  
  
He looked away, obviously mad and with a sigh, she also sat down against the wall at least five feet away. She should have never went down that street while making people order from a retarded catalog.  
  
I hit you  
And you hit me back  
We both fall to the floor  
The rest of the day stands still  
Fine line between this and that  
When things go wrong I pretend the past isn't real  
Now I'm trapped in this memory  
And I'm left in the wake of the mistake  
  
Slow to react  
  
Even though you're close to me  
You're still so distant  
And I can't bring you back.  
  
Spinelli closed her eyes. Great. Now a song she probably hated the most in the world at the time was stuck in her head. Five minutes later, they felt the wall tremble a bit as a low note played on the opening credits. "Come on." Spinelli stood up and dusted herself off. "I said, come on!"  
  
She turned around to him, and she laughed. This was priceless. "WAKE UP!"  
  
King Bob jumped and looked around him like he didn't have a clue what was going on. "Has it started?"  
  
She nodded and rolled her eyes a bit, even though she couldn't help but notice he looked kind of cute while sleeping. She mentally cursed herself while he got up and too dusted himself off. They opened the propped open the door and entered. On the screen, it was showing the beginning credits with music meant to sound creepy.  
  
Whispering, Bob asked, "Are you too offended or do you want to sit together? If one of us gets caught, like me alone, only I'd get in trouble and not you."  
  
Spinelli glared. "For my own sake, yes."  
  
They got to the back row and sat down, with luckily no one acting like they were committing a great, horrific crime.  
  
Along in the movie, there was lots of gore and blood flying everywhere. Spinelli noticed that King Bob would flinch more than her, and she grinned, thinking of another bad thing. He was a pansy.  
  
After the movie, they had to walk out without being noticed by anyone and were successful. After seeing a good movie, Spinelli would always try to rethink of every scene and what lines she could remember so she could recall every moment fast. Whatever Bob was thinking about, he wasn't talking.  
  
After a while, he finally shouted, "I HAVE IT!" and made Spinelli jump a mile high.  
  
"What are you talking about?" She snapped, mad at him for making her forget a line one of the vampires had said.  
  
"I thought of a new rule for the playground." he said, acting like he had just discovered the cure for all diseases known to mankind. He got that thinking face again, and Spinelli waited. ". . .Well, what is it?"  
  
He gave her another one of those 'why the heck are you asking me?' looks. "Why would you want to know?"  
  
"Because you just interrupted my important thoughts, and now that you just RUINED everything I was thinking about, I might as well get occupied by talking about something else." She retorted.  
  
"The KING and a fourth grader. Conversation. I don't get it."  
  
"It's pretty funny how you act like a simple conversation can open up the gates of hell and let demons rule the earth, and then you go to the movie theatres and that's all okay!"  
  
"Yeah. TO SEE A MOVIE! NOT TO HAVE SOCIAL TIME!"  
  
"If this is so bad, I wonder what you would think if someone was dating! You'd most likely kill yourself and hope in your next life you had nothing to do with such a horrific thing!" Spinelli laughed, and didn't realize what she had said until a split second later.  
  
King Bob didn't say anything, but just stared forward. 'Oh, no.' She too looked off to the side quickly. 'He probably knows now.'  
  
She had this bad feeling in her stomach between nervousness and sadness. Does she still like him enough to care? At the time, she couldn't tell because of the feeling of being nervous. If she felt so scared, did that mean she still liked him, or was scared he would think she did, but she actually didn't. This was so confusing.  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the word 'mason' and then realized that it was the name of Bob's street. "Um. this is your street," She pointed out, and he looked up, recognizing the houses.  
  
"Oh. Bye." He lifelessly said, and started walking in that direction. Without saying a word, she started walking, too. Everything suddenly seemed so cold.  
  
You, now I see  
  
keeping everything inside  
  
You, now I see  
  
Even when I close my eyes  
  
Spinelli grinded her teeth and cupped her hands over her ears, sick of everything that had started, and this stupid song stuck in her head. Why did she have to just ask? Why couldn't she be like an Ashley and like an actor that had no talent but was hot? Why did she have to like the King of all people?! Not being able to take the building pressure anymore, she started running, but wasn't exactly sure where she would go. Stupid, stupid, STUPID lack of control!  
  
She wanted to be anywhere but home. 


	4. 2 Serene

2. Serene  
  
'It's probably around twelve. Yeah. Somewhere around there.' Spinelli estimated. She knew her parents were probably thinking she was dead. Or was abducted and being beaten and raped or something. She was sitting by the park pond, knees up to her chin and arms around legs, staring at the water.  
  
Eventually, her parents would be looking and would check by here. She'd tell them she fell asleep and didn't know the time. After all, lying was her specialty. She slowly blinked, watching the very tiny waves made by wind cause the pond to shimmer insanely.  
  
Why did she care so much? Sure, letting everyone know your first name was Ashley is something she didn't want to get out, or be kissed by TJ. but maybe liking someone isn't exactly normal. A lot of people told people lies about people liking who ever. But why did it matter so much this time? Spinelli knew for sure that there once was a rumor floating around about her and TJ after the kiss. Which she HATED by the way.  
  
She would look back and always feel mad because of that day. Her first kiss was spent on her best friend. There was nothing wrong with TJ, except she found it hard to kiss him with everyone looking, and he was one of her best friends. It might have ruined their friendship, and it wasn't exactly what she would call happy.  
  
She saw headlights reflecting on the lake and disturbing the once perfect reflection. She somehow knew it would be her parents, and soon a car pulled up next to her. She didn't look. "ASHLEY SPINELLI!"  
  
Her mom had practically jumped the ten meters separating them and hugged her insanely. Soon enough her dad joined the hugging, and she remembered her lying task. "What?!"  
  
"Where have you been? It's twelve thirty and we were so worried. . ." Her mom cried.  
  
"Twelve? It isn't that late!" She retorted. Her mom and dad finally stopped hugging her and exchanged confused glances. "Have you fallen asleep or something? DID SOMEONE HIT YOUR HEAD?!"  
  
"I think I fell asleep. I do remember sitting here while it was lighter outside." Spinelli lied, and her parents believed her.  
  
"Well, get in the car and we'll go home so you can get some real sleep. Just NEVER even do that again, Ashley!" Her mom said, scared to death.  
  
Spinelli grunted and got in the car and leaned her head up against the window, watching the pond disappear behind a wall of trees as they drove home.  
  
The weekend was spent thinking and playing her music really loud, trying to block out any thoughts she didn't want to think about. She even skipped watching all of her wrestling. That Monday, she was walking to school and once again didn't meet up with her friends except while walking up to the school doors.  
  
Something seemed really out of place, but she couldn't notice exactly what it was at the time. Then, Gretchen came running up, as she began to open the doors. "Spinelli, wait! I have to tell you something -"  
  
It was too late, because she swung both the doors open, and was greeted by a quiet and staring hall. Some people had the nerve to whisper and point. Spinelli felt the anger boil up inside of her. "What are you all looking at?"  
  
They all gave each other a look that shown that they didn't know why she was acting like she had no idea what was going on. Then Spinelli felt her anger turn into nervousness. Did this have to do with Randall figuring out why she was really looking at the king like that?  
  
She stormed down the halls, eager to get to class. But going there was a wrong decision, because once inside, her eyes fell on TJ, Vince, Gus and Mikey. They looked at her for about two seconds before turning around and talking about something. 'Most likely me,' Spinelli thought and took her seat. She sat stiff for the whole class until ten.  
  
There, the teacher let them outside to recess and she practically dragged Gretchen out with her, trying to get ahead of her other friends. "Gretchen, please don't tell me its."  
  
Gretchen nodded, her face showing sympathy. "Yes. Apparently, Ashley A. went to the theaters to see 'Freaky Friday' and saw you and the King sneaking in. And you know what people would first think if a guy and girl was sneaking in to see an R rated film."  
  
Spinelli felt like she would just punch her friend to let some anger out, but kept it all in. "B-But. . . but that's not what happened!"  
  
"Over the weekend, she most likely called, e-mailed or used an instant messenger to get her information to anyone she knew in school."  
  
Spinelli finally thought she would loose it. She looked up at the jungle gym and then felt a huge pang of guilt. King Bob was staring out into space, and from the distance she could see just how worried and vulnerable he looked. Also on the right side of the playground, there was a group, and Ashley A. was standing in the center, telling anyone who didn't know anything the whole story, or at least her version of what really happened.  
  
Spinelli went stomping over and broke into the circle, and went right up to Ashley A. "What're you doing?! You know you're lying about everything you say!"  
  
Ashley snorted. "Lying? I'm just telling my friends what I saw."  
  
"You're friends? YOU MEAN THE WHOLE SCHOOL!" Spinelli screamed.  
  
A few people left the circle, knowing just how hard Spinelli could punch and didn't want to get involved. The little kids who didn't understand a lot just stayed and watched all of this, confused.  
  
"What? Scared at the fact that you and 'the highness' were sucking face at an R rated movie?" Ashley snapped and folded her arms across her chest and standing in a preppy posture.  
  
For a moment, Spinelli just gaped, and slowly realized the meaning. Sucking face?! HOW COULD SHE COME UP WITH THAT?  
  
In a second, Ashley was down on the ground screaming for her group of 'Ashley' friends to help her up and get the 'crazy girl' away from her. Spinelli threw herself at Ashley, thirsty to give her another punch across the face. Someone caught her in mid-air and she was squirming, tempted by the blood now coming out of Ashley's nose to get some more out of her.  
  
"Come on, you stupid, preppy barbie! I'm gonna beat you so bad your baby is going to be born fuckin' bruised!"  
  
By now, Ashley was screaming her head off, people immediately began to talk about her cursing with gasps, and Randall went running to find Ms. Finster. Then she realized that she wouldn't have time to say anything to Bob if Ms. Finster came out. She'd get suspended. Spinelli stopped struggling and let whoever had her in the air set her down but still grasp her shoulders. "LET GO OF ME!"  
  
She whirled and saw it was TJ, Vince and Mikey that had her. "Let me go! NOW!"  
  
"For your own good, no!" Vince said, struggling to keep the raging bull in his grasp.  
  
"You have to let me go! You don't understand!" Spinelli shouted. Everything was happening so fast. Ashley was screaming about her nose might be broken, everyone talking really loudly, her friends trying to get her to calm down.  
  
It was too much and she finally stopped moving altogether. She tried taking a calm breath but instead, felt like she would choke. "Let me go. I don't have enough time to -"  
  
Ms. Finster flew the doors wide open and came stomping out like the Tyrannosaurus off of Jurassic Park releasing herself from her cage. She stomped over and roughly grabbed Spinelli by the shoulder, and whirled her around. "You little Hooligan! Do you understand the consequences of what you just did?" she growled.  
  
Spinelli was silent and wincing from the nails of the angry teacher digging into her skin sharply. Ashley came running up fanning her bloody face with her hands. All of her friends crowded and tried to comfort her. "SHE ATTACKED ME!" Ashley A. screeched, pointing at Spinelli madly while the other Ashley's patted her shoulder and told her things meant to calm her down.  
  
"Randal! Get the principal and tell him the situation! Get a doctor and this young lady's parents!" Ms. Finster informed Randal. He replied with a 'yes, ma'am' and went running inside. Then the old lady sent Ashley to the nurse for now politely and then painfully dragged Spinelli towards the school doors. Finally, she just broke down in tears hating everything.  
  
She hated this stupid school, that retard Randal for constantly snitching, Ashley for being a constant a-hole, the movie 'underworld.' Sniffing, she looked behind her and then felt even worse. King Bob was about halfway to where she once was. He was now looking at her with what looked like guilt and sympathy. Was he going to help her? As soon as she was close enough to the doors, she immediately heard him be assaulted by the crowd and their questions.  
  
Except now it wasn't just a crowd. It was the whole playground that watched the fight, watched her be taken away and now bothering King Bob.  
  
In the Principals office, Principal Prickly was pacing. "I don't think you understand what your unnecessary actions will cost you, Miss Spinelli. Do you know what you did to that girl?"  
  
He faced her, and she looked away from the window to him. "Broke her nose, hopefully."  
  
His face had a red tint to it. "Hopefully? You don't realize the severity of this situation! You could be suspended for a month at max. If you miss that many days of school you may not be able to pass fourth grade!"  
  
Then, her parents stormed in. "Mr. Prickly?"  
  
They each gave her a sharp glare, and she sunk in her seat. They started talking, every now and then one of her parents looking at her with a shocked expression. But she didn't notice. She was too busy staring out the window. King Bob was in his throne again, and was looking at the office windows. 'Could he see through the glass?'  
  
"The suspension will last three weeks long, based off of what I have been informed."  
  
She looked away from the window. Good. She would pass. "I recommend you try to talk some sense into her. At the time, I need to calm down Ashley's hysterical parents." Principal Prickly sighed, sitting down and rubbing his temples as if he had a major headache.  
  
"Thank you, sir." Her parents sharply said, and waited for Spinelli to get up. She did and slowly walked out of the room, with them following silently. It wasn't until they got in the car that her mom finally went off.  
  
"Ashley Spinelli, what on earth where you thinking?" Her mother yelled, not looking at her but the road. They pulled out of the parking lot, and Spinelli didn't answer.  
  
"What would drive you to do that, in the first place?" She asked. Once again, Spinelli was silent. There was no way she'd tell them why she did it. Fist of all, she snuck into an R rated movie, and then just letting her parents know that she liked King Bob wasn't right, and she never really told them much in the first place.  
  
Her mom did the famous 'parental disappointed sigh' and gave up all together.  
  
When she got home, Spinelli was quickly informed that she was grounded for a month, along with the three week long suspension. She didn't answer but walked to her room, slammed the door and hit the bed. For a while she was silent and finally started crying.  
  
- -  
  
It was the second week of her suspension, which was spent on just moping around the house and going out for walks when her parents would scarcely let her. The whole time she thought about her everyday problems. Did she really like the King? Would her friends get mad? How would she be treated when she went back to the school?  
  
One time while walking down the street, she thought about that last look Bob had before she entered the doors. She still didn't know whether or not he was coming over to blame everything on her, help her or just watch. From the look he had when watching her leave, she assumed he was going to help, but wasn't exactly sure. Checking her surroundings, she realized she was only about five minutes or so away from school.  
  
She had to know what was really going on. Was King Bob STILL being harassed? She liked him too much for any retard to bother him! Smiling, she started running. So, she DID still like him.  
  
At the school, she walked around the fence wall until recess started and she reached a spot where there were about three big trees. The whole time, she made sure she would keep her eyes on Finster and Randal. They, luckily, where harassing some student for something, while facing the other way, so she made her move.  
  
Spinelli quickly climbed the fence, lucky that she didn't touch any of the barbed wire on the top. She found it pretty funny how they would go to that much of an extreme just to keep kids from skipping. She hit the ground and looked around. The two she was eyeing were still harassing the kid, and she saw King Bob luckily not in his throne on the jungle gym, but was instead getting carried around on that wooden thing.  
  
She ran, not caring if anyone saw her, and got up to Bob from behind. His eyes slid to where she was standing, and did a double take. "Halt, and go on elsewhere." He told the guards, giving a gesture with the wave of his hand.  
  
They set the wooden carrier down and walked away without saying a word, looking behind their shoulders very suspiciously. "Aren't you supposed to be suspended?" King Bob asked, without showing too much emotion.  
  
"Um, I need to ask you something. I'm not really aloud to be here, so can we go somewhere else where Ms. Finster can't see us?" Spinelli asked, glancing at Finster every second.  
  
"Of course."  
  
They both started walking over to the side of school building, with Spinelli to his side so Ms. Finster couldn't see her face. They went behind the side of the building. Someone might had have the nerve to follow if Spinelli didn't give Ashley a broken nose just the other day. She turned to face King Bob and realized that he had a familiar look on his face. 'The one after I talked about how much of a deal he would make if someone was going out,' she bit her lower lip.  
  
"Are you mad at me?"  
  
"No," He answered.  
  
Spinelli exhaled. She couldn't just stand here watching him, or her, like this anymore. She'd have to tell the truth to live without guilt for the rest of the year. "Okay, you have to promise not to interrupt anything I say. I just have to finish." She said, looking off to the side. When she met eyes with Bob for about two seconds, he didn't say anything but gave a slight nod to let her know he wouldn't stop her.  
  
She stopped looking at him again. "Alright. The real reason why I wanted to go to the movie theater at first was because I. . . I kind of wanted to be with you." She didn't look at him, but continued, "I really liked you. Then I thought how wrong people consider it when they found out a fourth grader likes a sixth grader."  
  
He was still silent, but was slowly registering the words.  
  
".So, I was acting all stupid in the theater because I wanted to learn to hate you and not go through everyone constantly bothering me, or you'd hate me or something if someone found out. And then this happened. I got mad at Ashley as you could tell. Then I realized even through everything that has happened I STILL like you. Then I came here to really see what was going on and give you the sense to tell everyone that all of this is my fault. So, I guess that explains a lot. You can tell everyone it was me and not get bothered, now."  
  
"What?" King Bob looked at her in what appeared to be disbelief. "Why would I do that?"  
  
"Because I just ruined your life. And you're the King! Do you know what can happen to you because of me, now?" Spinelli asked. "It's not like it would change anyone's view on me or anything. So, you will, right?"  
  
He shook his head. Spinelli's jaw dropped. "Why not?!"  
  
"Because, I didn't just go to sneak in with you in the first place." He started out loud and kind of quieted down towards the end, like he had said some kind of mistake.  
  
Spinelli swallowed. This was beginning it get a little complicated. "Then, why?"  
  
He kind of turned to face the playground from where he was leaning up against the wall. "I don't know how you can say everything so easily."  
  
Spinelli wondered if what she thought he meant was true. Did that mean he liked her, too? "What do you mean?"  
  
King Bob kind of hesitated for a minute. "Well, you're the only one I have ever really met that had a personality, didn't follow the mainstream, and was an individual. It isn't exactly easy to not like you, either."  
  
"Wait, you're saying I'm the only one with a personality? There are tons of people."  
  
"No, not really. For instance, everyone hates Randal, right? Well, they don't punch him or beat him up. You're the only one that does, because you don't care if you get in trouble for basically being yourself. I can go on and on all day why you have some kind of individuality and no one else does."  
  
"You do. Why not count that?"  
  
He laughed. "Because I'm the king so a lot of people look at me as an individual in some weird way. But really, I act like everyone else would."  
  
"I give up. Well, I still don't see what you're point is." Spinelli said, not exactly following him. She knew he didn't follow the mainstream, and didn't act like anyone else she knew. She wanted to figure everything out important, for now.  
  
He gave her a weird look. "What I'm SAYING is. . . I like you, too."  
  
Just like one of the things he didn't want to happen, she got quiet and stared. He found it extremely hard to look at her. "The reason why I act the way I do is because I was born that way, and it isn't something I can exactly control. So even though it sounded like I hated you, it didn't mean I really did."  
  
"Through everything that had happened, you still do?" Spinelli quietly asked. "But, you can lose your job as the king."  
  
"I'm going to lose it anyway. It isn't really something that can be stopped." He murmured. "So, it isn't your fault at all."  
  
"How do you know, then?" She questioned.  
  
He had this sad look in his eyes, but didn't show any facial expression. "I heard some people talking about how as soon as your suspension is over, they were going to try and get everyone in school to make a new king, because it isn't right for a King and fourth grader to be supposedly 'sucking face' in a R rated movie, as quoted by Ashley. They wanted you here to see it. Basically, they can do that because all of the kids can run the king over. It's almost happened before with the whole 'pyramid' problem."  
  
"What? Did Ashley start it?!"  
  
"No. She's too scared of you now to do anything involving either of us." He explained, and the bell rang.  
  
Spinelli was glad to know that he liked her, too, but for now wasn't exactly thrilled with what those people were planning to do. She'd help him. "I can't see you until my suspension is over. I'm grounded, too," she sadly said.  
  
"Really?" He, too, asked sadly.  
  
She nodded. "Bye." Spinelli slowly said, and walked away to climb the fence. Turning around while about mid-way up the fence, Bob was gone. She continued climbing, and began to run home as soon as she touched the cement.  
  
Once there, she tried to sort everything out. At home, she started to play music by a band called 'Dark Tranquility' and sat on the floor. Okay. so now the whole playground is going to try and make a new king because of what she did. Going to the theatres was slightly worth it, now that she knew he also liked her. But now, he might lose his job as the king. To other people, it might sound something like 'I lost a quarter,' or something, but she knew just how much being the king meant to him.  
  
Half of the year was over, and she already knew he couldn't survive an hour being treated like an 'everyday nobody.'  
  
Spinelli looked at her wrestling calendar on her wall. She had been keeping track of her suspension. She only had six days left, and had to help him somehow.  
  
- -  
  
The suspension was over, and Spinelli stood in front of the school, her knees very close to shaking she was so nervous. She took a deep breath and walked down the cement sidewalk, with eyes following her. Finally, after six days she could finally tell Bob what her plan was. But first, she still had to go to class. She walked in and was greeted by Mikey. "Hi?"  
  
"Why, hello, Spinelli! I missed you so much!" Mikey cheerfully greeted her.  
  
She was confused. "Aren't you disgusted at the fact I like King Bob?"  
  
"Oh, so you WERE denying it all along. Anyway, no I am not. I think it's beautiful! Like birds on a bright, warm morning frolicking about in the skies -"  
  
She smiled. Good old Mikey. "It's good to know you aren't mad and all, but you REALLY have to stop all that mushy stuff," she informed him, and the teacher stepped on in.  
  
"Hello there, Spinelli. It's, um, NICE to have you back," she said, stumbling on her words. Spinelli gave her a real cheap grin, which she had to painfully force.  
  
She sat down in her assigned seat, next to TJ and tried not to look in his direction. It was hard, because every time she would even take the smallest glance, he would be staring at her like she was a venomous snake. She paid no attention to whatever Miss Grotke was trying to teach them, because she was still busy trying to rehearse what she could say to Bob. After all, the thing she thought of was just about the only way out.  
  
Finally, it was recess. Miss Grotke once again had to talk an extra five minutes before finally letting them out. Spinelli practically leaped from her chair and went running down the halls. She doubted it, but now since she was back something might have happened in those five minutes. She ran out of the doors and skidded to a stop, checking to see where Bob was.  
  
He was sitting in his throne on the jungle gym and she immediately sensed something was really wrong as made her way over. The guards immediately parted to let her through. They seemed to be the only people other than her who weren't plotting against King Bob, and she assumed that they knew just how important to him she was right now.  
  
Spinelli went to the top and walked over to King Bob. "I know how to make them stop."  
  
"I hope it's good, because someone even said that they were going to make sure there would be a new king today right in my face." He dully replied. As they spoke, a group noticed them and began collecting as they started to walk over.  
  
"Well, you have to tell them to just accept everything."  
  
"WHAT?! You know I can't do that!" He protested.  
  
"Why not?" she asked. He replied, "Because I just can't talk about everything in front of people like that. Sure, it can be about someone stealing something or sentencing someone to the dodge ball court for blackmail, but there is NO WAY I can just talk about 'accepting people' like it's an every day issue!"  
  
"What do you want? Me to do it?" She asked sarcastically, glancing at the crowd. It now grew to being close to the whole playground and coming their way.  
  
"You'd do that?" He asked, with a hopeful look in his face. She couldn't bring herself to let him act like an idiot in front of everyone and she would just stand off to the side watching. ".Fine. You owe me BIG time. At least going to the next ten horror movies to come out with me and sneak in."  
  
"Deal!" He proudly said, glad to know he wouldn't have to say anything he never said before.  
  
The whole playground, aside from Spinelli's friends who stood off to the side, was now underneath the jungle gym. Luckily, they weren't mad enough to try and climb up.  
  
"Do you know what this is all about?" Someone asked, and Spinelli immediately recognized the voice belonging to Ashley Q. She snapped her head in her direction, and Ashley immediately silenced. Bob was being smart and waiting for them to say what they wanted to do, even though he knew what they had planned.  
  
"I know, we can vote! Whoever here thinks that King Bob shouldn't be king anymore, because is associated with a fourth grader, and it's probably an association too horrible to think of, say 'Aye.' " Some random person shouted. This was probably all part of the scheme.  
  
As planned, everyone excluding Spinelli's friends said 'aye.' Spinelli immediately felt Bob go really tense and nervous. "So, now that the majority of the playground had said 'yes' we can crown a new king. You just lost your job. Are there any rules against THAT?" The same person asked.  
  
Spinelli could see that the person was no other than Randal. She bet the only reason why they let him talk for everyone else was because he had Ms. Finster on his side.  
  
". . .No." Bob said, barely loud enough so people could here.  
  
"So, you're pretty much over your job as being a king, now, aren't you? I guess that's what you get for having bad judgment." Randal sneered.  
  
Spinelli decided it was time. "You know what? You're all really blind right now to that fact that not everyone has the same exact opinion on everything."  
  
"But ours actually matter!" Lawson shouted, and Spinelli shot him a dirty glare that could make a grown man cry.  
  
"Now, onto my point! All of this started just because of a rumor that says we were. you know! You guys are acting really stupid by going far enough to actually try and let a rumor take away something important to another person. And I think you all have enough sense to know people would only 'suck face,' as you friggin call it, if they liked each other. I'll have you know that even your best friends could like someone. THEN would you treat them like this? You might not even now if they liked the person, for heavens sake!"  
  
There was a slight murmur of agreement in the crowd, and King Bob smiled.  
  
Spinelli continued, "You were treating them the same without even knowing that they liked the person. And it isn't like during that time they turned into the devil or something. So then when you DO figure it out, all of the sudden you act like they have the power to kill everyone and everything on earth! Another person liking another one doesn't make them evil, or make them hate you or something! Sometimes, it lightens people up, and it isn't like a friend would NOT want their friends be happy, right? Even though King Bob isn't exactly a friend to every single person, the same things goes for him AND me. Now, I think I made my point so I'll stop now."  
  
Once again, people talked amongst themselves. They couldn't come up with a decision at the time, because half of the playground felt bad, and the other half didn't care about what she had just said at all. "Alright, then! We'll get the most important people to decide whether or not you still deserve to be king!" Lawson said, and Spinelli and Bob gave each other a glance.  
  
"Who are those people?" Bob asked.  
  
Lawson looked around him. "I don't know... But just wait until tomorrow! Then we'll see if you deserve your job or not!"  
  
They walked away, Lawson cackling (and then he stupidly tripped) and some leaving since they knew that they were no longer involved. Bob let out a relieved sigh and leaned back in his chair. "I was so nervous."  
  
"You? You didn't have to give the embarrassing speech!" Spinelli said in disbelief.  
  
"Oh , yeah. Thanks a lot." he gave her one of those smiles, and she slightly blushed.  
  
"Um, I'm gonna go see my friends. They must be really messed up right now." She said, and left. Passing by the guards, they stared at her like she was the new god. They could practically hear the 'Hallelujah' music playing. 


	5. 3 Arsenal

3. Arsenal  
  
"I'm sorry that I jumped to conclusions about what you would think, you guys," Spinelli said, trying not to look at her friend's faces.  
  
They now sat at the park pond. She had decided that school wasn't such a great place to apologize. Gus threw a rock as hard as he could into the water. It didn't go too far. "I accept your apology," he said and looked around for a rock that could make a bigger splash.  
  
"TJ? Vince?" Spinelli turned to them.  
  
"Sure, sure. Your little boyfriend just better not interfere with how you play sports. You're the second best on all the teams," Vince said, referring to him self as the best.  
  
Spinelli slightly blushed, hearing the boyfriend comment. "TJ? You okay?"  
  
TJ sat on the very tiny dock, tracing his finger in the still water. "Um. Yeah. Sure."  
  
He didn't sound so certain, but Spinelli didn't really want to question him any further. "So. . . who wants to come over to my house and watch wrestling?"  
  
"Sorry, Spinelli. I have to work on my science project. For ninth grade, that is." Gretchen said, got up and left with a wave. Spinelli was amazed at how early she started her projects, and then hopefully turned to the others.  
  
"Can't." TJ flatly said.  
  
"Sorry, but tonight is the night of the playoffs, too. I'd kind of want to watch that more." Vince said, waving a pretend bat in his hands.  
  
"Violence? I'd rather not be associated with it." Mikey said, shaking his head as if he was disappointed.  
  
Gus checked his clock. "Curfew!"  
  
Vince, Gus and Mikey left, leaving TJ and Spinelli. So much of an attempt to be friendly, she rolled her eyes. TJ was still moping. "What's wrong?" she asked.  
  
"Nothing." he replied, not looking up from the water.  
  
"Yes, there is. I can tell." Spinelli said.  
  
TJ got up. "I swear!" he said, and got on his bike and wheeled off.  
  
'What a nice goodbye,' she thought, wondering what his case was and also started home on foot.  
  
At home, she dug through her pile of horror movies trying to find the perfect one. Anaconda, Final Destination, Valentine, The ring! She grabbed the case, looking at the cover proudly. One of her favorites! She walked up to her room and popped the video into the VCR, adjusting the tracking and then pressing play.  
  
It was one of those moods for horror. Most likely because it had begun to rain and a thunderstorm was taking place. Thunder boomed outside as the 'you will die in seven days ' message appeared. She snorted, shoveling a handful of popcorn in her mouth as the two teenagers appeared on the screen, talking about the videocassette rumor.  
  
When the video was done, her parents still weren't home from their visit to a friend's house. Spinelli stretched in the bed, tired, but not aloud to go to bed since her parents weren't home. It was about eight, and she put the video in its case and she wandered out into the dark, unlit halls where the closet was. Basically, the closet was hers but not a part of her room.  
  
She walked downstairs, made something to eat and opened the locked door for her parents when they came home. She then went to sleep.  
  
"Spinelli?"  
  
She groaned, picked up her pillow and chucked it at her mother. "Spinelli! You'll be late!"  
  
She sat up and groggily looked at her mom, now holding the pillow, standing in her doorway. Spinelli stared for a long time before finally getting up and dragging herself to the doorway and snatching the pillow. "Late for what?"  
  
"School!"  
  
Spinelli winced, hearing the words. She broke out of her stupid moment and made a gesture to her mom, making her leave so she could change. She then rushed downstairs and shared a quick breakfast with her parents before running out the door. She saw a figure walking ahead and recognized it as TJ. "Hey, Teej! Wait up!" she called.  
  
TJ turned and waited without saying the normal, cheerful greeting. Spinelli caught up and gave him a good look in the eye. "Did you forget to do your homework or something? You look real messed up."  
  
"There's nothing wrong. Will you just stop asking?" He murmured, and she folded her arms over her chest.  
  
"I only asked you twice since yesterday. Can you just tell me what's wrong? That's what friends are for."  
  
"More like what boyfriends are for." TJ mumbled, but Spinelli didn't catch it. She sighed and remained quiet until he finally spoke up. "From what Mikey told me, you do like the king and he likes you. But were you guys really KISSING in the theatres?"  
  
"Oh god, no!" Spinelli cried. How could he really think that she would do that? He knew her since kindergarten and he STILL couldn't tell she wouldn't do that?  
  
The school loomed ahead, and neither of them said a thing until they reached their destination.  
  
They entered, and using the last couple of minutes she went to the sixth grade hallway where King Bob was walking around back to his normal self. Only now he was REALLY pissed off at certain people and would glare during any open chance. Spinelli walked over and past the crowd of guards following him. "Hey! Are people back to fearing you?"  
  
"Yep! And if they even try to make me a normal person," he shuddered at this part, "I'll just use the hose on them! Stupid five people!"  
  
Bob did a maniacal laugh, and she raised her eyebrows. "Oookay. This is the part where I get to class."  
  
She then left, just as King Bob gave Lawson a nasty glare.  
  
Back in class, Spinelli sat down in her seat and looked at the board. Written in chalk, it said 'the highness is now low' and she rolled her eyes. How stupid could people get? Normally, she would have beat the living crap out of someone if it was about her, but since it wasn't she didn't care. Sounded pretty self-absorbed, but he STILL needed to take care of his own problems.  
  
Miss Grotke walked in, looked at the board without understanding what any of it meant and erased the lame statement. "Settle down, kids! That is because in science, we are starting a new subject. We will be exploring the terrifying yet fascinating world of. . ."  
  
She wrote in big letters on the board, 'hurricanes.' Some of the class groaned, and Spinelli was among them. Hurricanes are as amazing as watching grass grow. "In this subject, we will also watch a movie, but need your parents permission for. um, bad language."  
  
This caught everyone's attention. The class barely got to see movies that had bad language in it. Spinelli had to be there! It was fun watching people's reactions. Miss Grotke continued, "But for now, we're still working with the books. So please turn to page eighty one in your science books and we can begin!"  
  
Spinelli opened her book and saw a massive satellite-taken photo of a hurricane. Under it was listed all of the chapter titles and she once again had to go back to boredom by paying attention. At recess, her and her friends walked out into the sunlight. TJ meaninglessly walked off, but she didn't care too much. It was beginning to get cold, and Spinelli realized that it was fall time. All of her surrounding has been so distant lately, and she finally got to have a good look at it.  
  
The trees were turning brown, leaves covered the grass and blacktop and the air had a more crisp feeling to it. She breathed in happily. Fall was her favorite season. Back to reality she realized that Gus was repeatedly poking her in the side. "Spinelli? Spinelli?"  
  
"Huh?" She looked around like she couldn't tell who was talking.  
  
"I think King Bob wants you." He said, pointing at him up in his throne. Bob made a motion that looked like, you-better-get-up-here-and-you'll-like- it!  
  
"Oh, duh!" She couldn't believe she forgot and walked over to the jungle gym. Seeing her, Ashley A. (Now wearing one of those things on her nose to straighten it) Lawson, Hustler kid, Guru kid and amazingly TJ started to walk over. Spinelli did a double take. TJ?! Why did he be part of the group? Is he trying to vote King Bob off of being king? IS THAT WHY HE HAD BEEN ACTING SO FUNNY?!  
  
She wanted to climb off of the jungle gym and ask him why the heck he was being such a retard, but instead had to wait. She was so mad her legs and hands were violently trembling. She looked over at King Bob who was just staring at TJ, slowly and most likely painfully processing what was wrong with the picture. "Well?" he demanded.  
  
Some people looked like they didn't want to be here and were terrified of what King Bob would do. Ashley A. slowly and painfully said, "Anyone who thinks King Bob should remain the king, say 'aye'. . ."  
  
TJ, Hustler kid and Guru kid all repeated 'aye,' and Spinelli felt slightly guilty for assuming her friend would actually go against her. King Bob only grinned, and his eyes slid over to Lawson and Ashley A. mischievously. "Get them away from my sight," he said without any hesitation to his guards.  
  
They immediately dragged the two away, none of them complaining. He then stood up, practically knocking Spinelli off of the jungle gym. "To you three. thank you. You have saved my job as king, and I owe you one. If you have any requests from here on, come to me about it."  
  
They all shrugged and left, with Hustler kid counting the ten bucks TJ had to give him to vote his way. "Wait a second. I have to talk to my friends." Spinelli quickly told Bob. He nodded as she came down and caught up with TJ.  
  
"Teej, why were you with them?" She asked, trying not to sound too mean. It didn't work too well.  
  
"Because. They knew that I would want Bob to not be king anymore for sure and picked me."  
  
"Then why did you vote that they didn't?"  
  
"Because even though you've been acting really weird and practically ignoring everyone except the king, you're still my friend." He said, without any facial expression. "And he is just plain mean to everyone, anyway, so it was a hard choice."  
  
Spinelli rubbed her eyes. "So, you lied? And your opinion only saved him from his job being taken away, and what's left of my sanity?"  
  
TJ kind of grinned. "Actually, I kind of paid Hustler kid -"  
  
"Okay, you just stop there!" She said, not wanting to hear anymore. "Well, I guess the only thing I could say is. . . thanks. Not just for the king, but me, too."  
  
She wasn't the best person to be thankful, but TJ gave her a friendly smile anyway. "Wanna play tetherball?" he asked, and she grinned.  
  
"I'm in!"  
  
The next few days weren't eventful at all, except Vince missed a day of school and came back with his wrist in a cast. When asked how it happened, he answered, "I was practicing my new hard punch for tetherball, and hit the wall instead of the ball by accident."  
  
It was pretty funny, but all his friends signed the cast first. Gus wrote, 'You just made me realize another painful thing to look out for,' as a joke. Gretchen obviously wrote, 'According to your injury, it should only take about a month and a half before it heals. Good luck with the process of it healing.'  
  
Mikey wrote some poetry. something about a bone may break but a spirit can't. and Spinelli wrote, 'Hurry up and heal so we can win a basketball game.' TJ wrote, 'Now we finally have something to laugh about.'  
  
And it was true. The days seemed to go back to their original days. Rumors died down, because Spinelli and King Bob did no more then really look at each other, but sometimes talked. One funny time, Spinelli was playing Lawson in tetherball.  
  
"It's pretty great how your ego has been deflated, but you still have enough to waste it all on sports. Shouldn't you be worrying about your boyfriend?" He made annoying kissing noises and whacked the ball.  
  
It spun around and Spinelli quickly smacked it harder. "Real funny, Lawson. As soon as this game ends I'm gonna squeeze your head so hard it'll be deflating."  
  
She hit the ball so hard it finally wrapped around the pole. Even though he lost, Lawson kept going at it. "And all of this is coming from a fourth grader that has a crushy-wushy on the big, bad, scary. . ."  
  
He continued ranting and Spinelli slowly grinned, looking behind Lawson's shoulder.  
  
".Full-of-himself king!"  
  
Lawson looked confused at why Spinelli wasn't acting offended and the noticed the shadow covering his own. He instantly guessed who it was and turned around with a cheap smile on his face. Lawson was right, and was met by King Bob just staring at him, arms folded across chest. Lawson just coughed and walked away slowly. "Um. bye!" He dashed off in a hurry.  
  
"Nice." Spinelli smiled, turning back to Bob. He smiled triumphantly. "Being king is SO good!"  
  
"I can see that." She said and unraveled the tetherball, keeping it up in the air with small bumps. "So, what's the occasion to leave your royal perch?"  
  
"I dunno," he shrugged, and looked off to the side. Spinelli knew he was trying to act casual, and at the time he was failing.  
  
"Alright, just say it." She said with a crooked smile.  
  
"Fine. . . Do you know if any rumors have been killed? I don't want something like this happening again!" He finally said very quickly. Then he noticed the weird expression Spinelli had. He coughed. "Even though I like you and all, I still wanna be the king! It's too fun watching people's pain and sadness!"  
  
Spinelli finally smacked the ball hard, and it swung around. Bob had to duck. "Well, I think so. I don't want it either," she said and caught the retreating ball. Vince walked over. "Hey, Spinelli. Um, Hey, King Bob?"  
  
By now, his cast, which was originally dark blue, was close to being black so many people signed it. Bob only blinked, wondering why Vince gave him a normal greeting. It was something he would have to expect, now that he and Spinelli were friends. Or maybe more. Who knew?  
  
"Hiya! Wanna play tetherball?" she teased, looking at Vince's wrist.  
  
"Yeah, sure!" He laughed. "But, we're playing kickball. If you're playing, hurry up so we can be picked on the better team!"  
  
"Sure! Bye, Bob." She left and he only did the usual nod.  
  
As they were running, she noticed that Vince was trying not to laugh at first, and eventually began to laugh hysterically to the point where he couldn't run. She stopped. "What's the catch?"  
  
"You called him Bob!" He now dropped to the ground and started kicking is legs in the air. Some people began to look over curiously. "Well. Yeah. That IS his name." Spinelli rolled her eyes and helped him up.  
  
"It sounds funny!" Vince said, struggling for air. She couldn't help but smile, too. It actually was. They got to the kickball field with Vince cracking up the whole way. It was a great day.  
  
Now, Spinelli sat on her bed, flipping through her CD case to try and find something that matched her mood. Something that was happy. She decided that SUM 41 was the best choice and popped 'all killer no filler' into her CD player and lying back, letting the lyrics of track two clear her head. Smiling, she mouthed the words and eventually let the words lure her into sleep.  
  
The next morning was Saturday, and her friends sat at the ice cream shop, not really talking about anything in particular except whatever popped into their heads. Spinelli shoved a spoonful of chocolate sundae in her mouth, not keeping her eyes off of Gretchen.  
  
Gretchen did the same, and Spinelli finally couldn't take the dry feeling in her eyes and blinked. "Victory." Gretchen calmly said. Spinelli would have been screaming 'victory,' and she grumbled something that couldn't be translated. Staring contests was one of the things Gretchen could beat her at every time.  
  
She only shoveled a bigger scoop into her mouth. Gus, who was sitting diagonal to her, only poked and prodded at his sundae miserably. "What's wrong?" she asked, swallowing the mouthful.  
  
Gus looked up. "Nothing," he dully said and Spinelli rolled her eyes.  
  
"Come on! Yes, there is! It's about your turn to become sad at something." She said, swiping the cherry that once sat on the sundae belonging to TJ. She noticed a lot of people were getting very gloomy lately.  
  
"I promise to god there isn't!" He suddenly retorted, looking desperate.  
  
"Promise to god?" TJ laughed. "Now we know something is wrong. Since when did you start saying that? Hey! Who took my cherry?!"  
  
Gus continued to look miserable as Spinelli and TJ got into a debate about who stole his cherry. Mikey watched all of this with amusement until he finally shoved his spoon into each of theirs and somehow managed to pick up the whole scoop. "I'll settle this!"  
  
Then he each put the huge scoops in his mouth one at a time. "MIKEY!" Spinelli practically screamed. Her beloved ice cream was gone, now! They all started kicking each other under the table playfully. Gretchen joined in, probably getting bruised the most, but Gus continued to look sad and sighed, taking in the scene of everyone wildly kicking their legs.  
  
Finally, Vince smothered TJ in the face with a handful of his own sundae and everything ceased. "YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" TJ shouted, reaching over and scooped up a wad of Vince's sundae, too. Vince busted out laughing and went running out of the doors, TJ in quick pursuit laughing crazily.  
  
---  
  
Back at school, Spinelli and her friends were back to playing the weekly prank on Principal Prickly. Vince, who sadly had to be left out of the good stuff, had to fake that he thought he broke his arm again, acting hysterical. Mikey, who was up in a tree was informing TJ and Spinelli on what he saw going on with Vince and Ms. Finster. "She's trying to tell Vince it isn't broken. Vince is a sure good actor.."  
  
Spinelli and TJ sat in a tree opposite to Mikey, and TJ threw a rope with a hook on the end to latch unto the school building. Rope courtesy of Hustler kid. When it was secure, TJ and Spinelli took binders, opened them up and sat the crease on the rope. Using that, they slid down the rope and into the window. They were now just by the principals office in the hallway. "Ready, Gus?"  
  
Gus came out from around the corner, still moping. He nodded and was prepared to run. Spinelli knocked on the door and she and TJ practically ran for their lives toward the other turn. As soon as they turned the corner, they heard the door open. "Who's there?"  
  
"Ha, ha! The principal is an idiot!" Gus shouted, most likely running for the sake of his permanent record already.  
  
"WHAT?" Prickly shouted and immediately went charging after Gus. This was where Gretchen had to stall him, and 'accidentally' bumped into principal Prickly in the hallway, spilling her heavy books all over his feet. TJ and Spinelli heard a painful shout and Gretchen say something about finding a new way how to make kids learn faster, be the smartest school, and the school could be famous.  
  
Like always, Prickly had to listen, looking for a chance of being a 'good and smart principal.' As they talked, TJ nudged Spinelli and they both used the time to get inside the office and quietly shut the door. TJ took a piece of paper from underneath his hat and laid it on the principal's desk. "Okay, Spinelli. As soon as you put that on, remember we can't talk at all!"  
  
Spinelli grinned, pulling a roll of scotch tape from her pocket. "I hear ya!"  
  
She walked over to the PA system and ripped a piece of. TJ was cupping his hand over to his mouth, knowing he would laugh. Spinelli quickly tape the button down and too had to restrain herself from laughing. They went out of the office, making a motion at Gretchen behind Prickly's back. Gretchen cheaply smiled. "Well, I don't want to be late for recess. Think about my idea!"  
  
She went running towards them, and the three leaned on the wall for a while laughing before TJ finally got them to be quiet. "Let's see everyone's faces before he reads it!"  
  
They rushed outside. "According to my calculations, he should be reading it just about, now!"  
  
They got dead quiet and listened to the PA. Vince, Gus and Mikey joined up with them to listen. There was the sound of shuffling, and the principal muttering to him self. There was then paper crackling, and his voice could be heard reading the paper aloud, "It must be known to the school that I am nothing but - An old fart that enjoys picking his nose and eating what my discoveries are?! MS. FINSTER!"  
  
The whole playground busted out laughing uncontrollably. Apparently, he discovered that the PA system was on. Spinelli was laughing so hard her side began to hurt and she tried to steady her breathing. It didn't work, so the result was her falling to the ground and cracking up there. The laughter eventually died down with the brief sound of the tape getting ripped off quickly.  
  
"This has to be our best one, yet!" Vince managed to say in between laughs. It eventually died down, and Mikey must have realized lack of laughter in Gus. "What's wrong? You usually love Principal Prickly saying things on accident to the whole playground!"  
  
Gus sighed and shook his head. "Nothing."  
  
The bell rang, and the whole group quickly tried to get inside before Ms. Finster could block the way and find out who had created this idea. On the way, Spinelli finally had to figure out what was wrong with Gus before she'd snap. "Tell me, now! If you don't, you can just tell my fist!"  
  
Gus knew that when she mentioned 'madam fist' she really wanted to know something. He gulped. "I'll tell you later. Now isn't a good time."  
  
She made an aggravated noise and stomped away, pushing some kid in the process. In class, they were finally given slips for their parents to sign about the movie. It was 'The perfect storm,' so Spinelli knew her parents would let her see it. After all, they watched in together for the first time she saw it. It only said the 'f' word once, and that wasn't too bad.  
  
She exited the school after class with her friends and felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw King Bob. For once, his guards weren't surrounding him expecting for a sniper to shoot any second. "Hey, Bob," She greeted and heard a cackle from behind her. She knew it was Vince.  
  
"What's so funny?" Bob asked, looking over her shoulder at Vince. He stopped laughing and looked nervous for a second. Spinelli saved Vince. "Nothing. I just thought that your name -" she grinned.  
  
"I know it's stupid." He rolled his eyes, like people normally bothered him about his name.  
  
Spinelli tried not to laugh. "Oh? How so?"  
  
"Because there are truck drivers, right? There is ALWAYS a truck driver named Earl, Pete, Paul, Joe and Bob. And I hate truck drivers!" King Bob whined like a one year old. Now, all of them were laughing. "King Bob the truck driver!" TJ blurted out, laughing hysterically.  
  
Bob narrowed his eyes. "Call me that again and I would not only send you to the dodge ball court, but kill you."  
  
They instantly stopped and looked at each other. They knew never to act like he was a friend from then on. "Um, I'll catch up with you guys later," Spinelli said, knowing they didn't want to be around King Bob.  
  
They immediately left. "You can't help it, can you?" she asked.  
  
He cocked his head to the side. "Huh?"  
  
"You like being evil." She said, smiling. He too grinned. "Yep. And it never gets old, either. As long as I get treated like I'm a god, everything's okay."  
  
He made the 'okay' sign with his left hand. "You should try it. Oh, but then again YOU CAN'T! 'Cause I'm the king and you'd be a really bad queen if you even tried." He did a little jig.  
  
King Bob seemed to love torture. Even the people he liked, but she knew he was kidding. "You keep telling yourself that, but I know for a fact I' m better. It isn't as hard as you make it sound."  
  
He stopped. "Oh, really? It's harder than it looks! I owe you big time anyway, so why don't tomorrow YOU get the royal treatment and see just how hard it is being the king."  
  
Spinelli grinned. "You're on! Don't be surprised if people try to vote you off again and make ME the king. I mean, queen!"  
  
"Yeah, right!" He laughed, and Spinelli left to meet up with her friends.  
  
She walked away with a wave, and for once he returned it. Today was real great, and tomorrow would be even better with the 'royal treatment.' She caught up with her friends, and she told them what she was gonna do when they asked. Like always, they acted like it was the most amazing thing ever to happen to her.  
  
The next day, she was walking outside unto recess like every other normal day until something was put on her head all of the sudden. "What's the deal?" she wrestled to get whatever it was off from covering her eyes, ready to pounce at the person.  
  
She finally got it off and felt glad she didn't clobber the person, because it was King Bob and he was cracking up watching her take his crown off. She put it underneath her arm. "REAL amusing."  
  
"Actually, it was." He said, with an annoying grin on his face. She wondered how she could like and hate him at the same time. She shook her head. "Anyway, I'm ready to be pampered."  
  
"Okay!" He said and then snapped, and the carrier people came running with the wooden thing with the chair on top. He tried climbing up on it, but it swayed violently. "Hold it still, stupid! I said hold it still!"  
  
Spinelli sighed, walked over and got on without any problems. It barely even swayed. Bob didn't say anything for a while. "How'd you do that?"  
  
Spinelli jumped off, making the carrier people almost fall. "Now, take your time. . ." She said slowly, like she was expecting for him to cry like a little kid.  
  
Once again, he attempted to get on and managed to with much difficulty. She clapped like it was a great accomplishment and he gave her a glare. They went over to the jungle gym and once there, King Bob plopped down in his throne and kicked it back. Spinelli coughed. "If I'm gonna get the royal treatment I have to sit in the throne. In all seriousness!"  
  
He gave her a funny look. "And where would I go?"  
  
She smiled, shrugging. "I don't know, but I get the throne!"  
  
"No way!"  
  
"You want me to make my legs to get numb from standing up for so long."  
  
"I didn't say that."  
  
"In another choice of words, yes."  
  
"I want the throne!"  
  
"Good lord." He murmured, never seeing anyone so persistent.  
  
"Then scoot." Spinelli continued. Bob did, not in the mood to argue. Everyone, including the girl that constantly fanned him, watched all of this in amusement. She sat down next to him, stretching and taking up more than half of the space. "Comfy. What other royal stuff do you normally do?"  
  
King Bob was practically knocked out of the chair when she stretched. From a very painful-looking position, he shook his head in disbelief and regained his composure before everyone on the whole playground saw him looking so stupid. Spinelli was looking at the view and then turned to him. She repeated the question.  
  
"Whatever I want, I guess." He shrugged.  
  
"Even listen to music?" She asked, expecting for him to say no. Things couldn't be as great as he made them sound.  
  
"Yeah." He said, and she blinked. Sweet. He turned to one of the guards. "Get me my CD player and case."  
  
The guard nodded and left, soon returning with a portable CD player and a case of CDs. He handed it to Spinelli, and she thought this was too kick ass. Listening to music during recess! "Awesome! How come I never see you listening to it?"  
  
She put on the headphones and opened the CD player. In it was a CD that said, 'Kidneythieves - Zerospace' on it. Nice name, she thought, closed it and pressed play. "Because," Bob answered. "I always want to hear if anyone is talking about me. I like sentencing people."  
  
"What's a good number?" she asked. He replied by saying 'three.' She changed the track, leaned back and listened to the words. It was a girl singing for once, and it was talking about how this one girl is a time bomb, she was waiting for something, and was slightly anorexic or something and was holding in an arsenal. She smiled, knowing today was gonna rock and ended up listening to the song the whole time through. "What's this called?" she asked.  
  
"Arsenal," he replied.  
  
She stretched, purposely smacking him on the head. 


	6. 4 Living Dead Girl

4. Living Dead Girl  
  
The song 'Arsenal' ended, and Spinelli took the headphones off, satisfied. She looked over at King Bob and raised her eyebrows. "What?"  
  
He blinked, like just waking up. "Huh?"  
  
"Nothing." she said and looked around the playground again trying to find her friends, ignoring the fact that he was staring at her close to the whole time the song played. At the time she couldn't see them and jumped a mile high when King shouted at some fourth grader to get off of 'his sand.' The kid went running, and Bob cackled. Spinelli finally saw her friends, and Mikey noticed her first. He waved, and she did, too.  
  
He made a motion, but Spinelli couldn't tell what it meant. "Is that Russ?"  
  
"What?" She asked, turning to King Bob.  
  
"Is the guy waving named Russ, or something?" he repeated.  
  
"You mean Gus. And he's the short guy." She said.  
  
"Why does he look like he's about to kill himself or something?" Bob asked, and she shrugged.  
  
"I don't know. He was like that ever since me and you weren't acting like enemies. TJ, too." She said and one of the guards came up.  
  
"King Bob, someone would like to see you about digging closer to the sixth grade area?" He asked, like the reason why they came was really weird. Spinelli instantly knew that the people were the diggers. She knew that they were constantly trying to dig closer to the sixth graders so they'd have more area. And King Bob always got mad at them when they were too close.  
  
"Bring them up," he told the guard. As the guard left, King Bob turned to Spinelli. "Now you can take this one and see just how easy it is to be the King."  
  
She shrugged. "Okay."  
  
In about three seconds she could let them dig closer, and resume back to being royal. She was hungry from skipping breakfast. He had to have something to eat up here. . . The diggers came up and they looked from King Bob to Spinelli for about five seconds. Bob finally figured out why they were acting so confused. "Ask her what you want."  
  
"Oookay." Digger Dave said, and then asked Spinelli, "We're running out of room for digging, and wanted to know if we were aloud to dig a hole starting in the fourth grader parts, and digging underground underneath the sixth grade area."  
  
"Yeah, sure." Spinelli said, ready for something to drink.  
  
The diggers looked at each other. "But from what THE KING said last time, he would need make sure where we would be digging underneath and a whole lot of stuff. We can ignore all of that, too?"  
  
Spinelli didn't say anything. "Okay. dig under the sand only and avoid the fields or something so you don't ruin any kickball or soccer games going on."  
  
The diggers repeated the look. "Sand would cave in whenever someone is as close as ten feet away from the tunnel."  
  
She sighed. "Take it," she mumbled to King Bob, and he grinned like he just proven his point. He and the diggers carried on a discussion, with Spinelli extremely bored. They talked for about five minutes straight, before the diggers were finally able to dig underneath the sixth graders.  
  
"Guess what?" Spinelli asked, and Bob shrugged. "I'm hungry."  
  
Almost immediately a guard brought up a plate consisting of junk food. "Awesome."  
  
Spinelli snatched a bag of chips and started stuffing her face. Once again, the guards came up. This time two girls were fighting about whose turn it was to be it for hide-and-go-seek. "This one will be easy, it's mine," Spinelli said, finishing chewing on a chip.  
  
"Okay." Bob had this glint in his eyes, so she knew that she had made a wrong decision.  
  
Two little first graders were below the jungle gym, each saying, 'You're it!' over and over again. It was very frustrating, but Spinelli didn't want to look like she was too annoyed.  
  
"Okay, kid! You're it!" She pointed to the girl on the right.  
  
"You're not the king and that's not fair!" The girl she pointed to said.  
  
"Well, he's letting me take care of this one. Do you DEFY what I'm saying?!" She said, starting to look pissed off. She heard Bob snicker behind her, and she shot him a glare. He stopped, like always.  
  
"Fine! If I pick a number between one and ten, and whoever is closest, will you be satisfied?" She asked, loosing patience.  
  
They nodded. She picked her number to be seven and one of them chose three and the other nine. The result of her telling the girl who chose nine that she wasn't 'it' was the other girl making a scene and close to crying she hated being 'it' so much. Finally, King Bob must have been very annoyed, too. He walked over and pointed at the girl crying. "You're it! Deal!"  
  
She stopped, and they skipped off like nothing ever happened. They both tried sit down again in the chair, each trying to get there first so they could have the most room but it didn't work too well. Bob got there first, and Spinelli jumped too late and landed on him. Bob knocked her off (not too hard) and clamped on to the throne. "Hey! I NEED the throne!" Spinelli shouted.  
  
She grabbed one of his feet and pulled. "No way!" he said, clamping on even tighter. The girl that constantly fanned him backed away, not wanting to get involved. Little did Bob and Spinelli know that close to the whole playground was watching the whole time. Finally, Spinelli gave up. "Fine. Don't make me sit on you."  
  
This got him to move over in defeat, not wanting ANYONE to sit on him. She sat down, and the bell typically rung after the whole fight. Spinelli got an idea. "Hey, can you do me a favor?" She asked Bob.  
  
"Whoa!" Gus nearly fell off the throne, which was being carried around.  
  
He was constantly sliding this way and that, not used to being carried around by King Bob's guards. Spinelli walked around with Bob. "I still don't see why you chose him," He stated.  
  
"Because," Spinelli informed him, "He's constantly acting sad and I think hitching a ride on the throne while being carried around will at least help."  
  
"Oh." He said, watching as Gus stood up and waved and TJ, Vince, Gretchen and Mikey, which resulted in causing the carriers to almost fall on their knees. Bob wondered if he would make them drop the throne and they (Spinelli and him) walked inside. Class was boring, like always. The slips for seeing 'the perfect storm' still weren't due, and they had to learn about the eye of the storm for now.  
  
At lunch, Spinelli still sat with her friends. "So, what's it like being the queen?" She was asked as soon as she sat down.  
  
"I'm not a queen, stupid!" She said, looking down at the unappetizing cafeteria food. She poked something that appeared to resemble mashed potatoes.  
  
"Technically speaking, since you and the king are in a relationship you are the queen." Gretchen said, opening her lunch bag of healthy food. The huge amount nutrition disgusted everyone.  
  
The fork that had speared a clump of the mashed potatoes was mid-way to her mouth before she threw it down. "WE ARE NOT!"  
  
The whole cafeteria got quiet and stared at her. "What are you all looking at?" she snapped. They turned back to their conversations, shrugging. Spinelli was tried of being the constant topic of the conversations between her and all of her friends. Especially when it included King Bob somehow.  
  
"Oookay. . . You just keep telling yourself that." TJ had this annoying grin on his face, and she wanted to rip it off, like how the doctor in 'The Howling: 4' did.  
  
"You never answered our question." Mikey said.  
  
"WELL, I DON'T WANNA!" She shouted and stormed out of the cafeteria.  
  
"Was it something I said?" Mikey asked, and the group shrugged.  
  
That night, Spinelli made her parents sign the permission form to see the movie about the hurricane. They did, and she shoved in her backpack. When putting it inside, she noticed something circular coming out of the pocket in her trapper keeper. She pulled it out and realized it was the Kidneythieves CD. She had forgotten that she borrowed it.  
  
Spinelli played it while laying on her bed, thinking of lyrics like that one night about a month ago. When she first found out that she liked King Bob.  
  
- - - -  
  
Water splashed all over her, and in her dream, Spinelli took hold of the steering wheel. Apparently, she was re-living a familiar scene. She and all her five friends were on a boat, typically named 'A. Spinelli.' It was extremely windy. She felt like she would be knocked over but something kept her on her feet. A huge wave loomed ahead and crashed into the boat.  
  
The mast went toppling off along with the wave, and she turned around to try and find her friends frantically. They were in the cockpit, safe and dry. They were making motions telling her to get inside. Spinelli looked around and realized that a huge shadow was approaching. Except it wasn't a shadow, but a wave that had to be over one hundred feet high! She needed to be with her friends, so she turned the wheel so the boat would be riding the wave instead of trying to climb over.  
  
"I'm coming!" She shouted to her friends, and they had relieved looks on their faces.  
  
She tried to run back to the cockpit but after a meter was held back. She looked behind her. Why couldn't she move?! The huge wave was approaching ominously, and she looked down at her left wrist. A thin, wiry string was tied to the wheel and her wrist. She yanked very hard, but the thin material held like iron.  
  
"NO!" She shouted, as the wave finally made the boat ride the base. Except it didn't keep going. The swell top seemed to dive down and crash over the boat. Spinelli found herself being knocked and bowled over by a huge weight, which was the wave and tons of heavy salt water and was then surrounded by the wetness.  
  
The string then snapped, and Spinelli began swimming for the seemingly bright light above, which she assumed was the surface and looked over to her side. Her friends were luckily swimming upwards, too. Then a thought crossed her mind for no apparent reason. "What's the name of the hurricane?" she shouted to TJ underwater. Her voice sounded like it would on land. TJ answered, "Didn't you know? Hurricane Bob."  
  
Suddenly the somewhat peaceful moment was interrupted as the remains of the 'A. Spinelli' boat came rolling by underwater swiftly, held by the current. The huge structure smashed into all five of her friends, and the water surrounding it turned a sick red color as it quickly sunk to the ocean floor. Spinelli screamed, and began choking on water. Her head began to feel split in half and she struggled for air but only felt coldness surrounding her and a tight feeling around her neck. She, too, began to sink while struggling to live.  
  
"NO!"  
  
Spinelli snapped her eyes open, and realized she was choking herself. She removed her hand from her throat and gulped in air. It was dark inside her room and rain ran in torrents on her windows. She flopped back in bed and tried to regain her breath. When she did, she heard a whirring noise and got up. It was coming from the CD player, so she walked over. She had fell asleep and the CD had finished playing. It was still spinning, or trying to, so she pressed the 'stop' button.  
  
It got quiet in her room, aside from the constant tapping noise of the rain hitting the outside of the house and her windows. Spinelli sat down on her bed, beginning to recall her dream. Then she felt something wrong. Her dad told her all dreams, as stupid as they may be, always had a meaning. But at the time she didn't really want to know what it meant, even though she couldn't help but notice. She lost all of her friends to the hurricane. She only survived 'Hurricane Bob.'  
  
At school, she was forced to hand in the permission slip for seeing the movie. Except now she didn't want too as much. After all, her dreams were close to being based off of that movie. She shuddered, remembering seeing a giant swell in the distance, getting closer. Spinelli snapped out of it when someone accidentally elbowed her stomach. She elbowed the person even harder and returned back to her desk. Close to the whole class was able to watch 'The Perfect Storm.'  
  
At recess, she didn't feel like doing much. It was the coldest day of the year and she was stuck wearing her normal apparel while others were running around with jackets like nothing was different weather-wise. Even King Bob was wearing a grey hoodie that had the Sum 41 devil on the front. Her friends were playing kickball and she only watched, too cold to play.  
  
Gus hadn't changed mood-wise, and she finally had to figure out. She asked him a long time ago about it anyway and he DID say that he would tell her later. She walked out across the field, trying to keep her back to the wind. Gus watched her almost in dread as she made her way across.  
  
Finally, she reached her destination and she grabbed him by the collar. "Okay, Gus. It's time ya told me what's wrong."  
  
"Don't hurt me. . . Severely." He quivered.  
  
Spinelli dropped him. "I won't. Just tell me. All week you have been doing nothing but acting like one of your parents died or something. I even got King Bob to sacrifice his throne for you, and you still don't change. It wasn't exactly fun to beg for the favor."  
  
"Fine!" Gus said, raising his hands like he was trying to defend himself. "I'll tell you!"  
  
"Then spit it out!" She stomped.  
  
"I'm gonna move again." He quietly answered, and Spinelli dropped her fist.  
  
"Move? To where?!"  
  
"Some place in Colorado called 'Ridgehead.' "  
  
Spinelli didn't say anything. Gus was moving to some place in Colorado? But he can't! He was one of her best friends. Then the ball hit her on the back of the head. She turned around but didn't say anything. "Sorry, my bad!" Vince said while running bases.  
  
She still didn't answer but walked away quietly, without a word. Days were beginning to crumble once again. Her friends treated her differently. Gus was moving. She's having bad dreams that are trying to tell her SOMETHING. At the time, all she needed was some comfort. She usually hated it, but now felt like it was the one thing she needed. Her friends were playing kickball. King Bob was in his throne sentencing some kid to something for who knows what reason.  
  
No one seemed to be open for friends at the time. She sniffled, and realized it wasn't the cold making her sick. She was crying at the loss of a friend. Not wanting to be caught with a few tears, she headed on inside before anyone could follow or see her. Inside, she sat in the classroom. Miss Grotke was in the teachers lounge, and she just sat at her desk staring down.  
  
How could Gus just leave like that? Leave all of his friends behind? She wondered if she was the only one that knew, then decided that she wouldn't let anything slip about it to her friends, in case it would only worsen things. The stress was killing her, so she took out a piece of paper and began writing down lyrics for 'Arsenal' by Kidneythieves. She still had to give Bob his CD back before she completely forgot. So, using the time left of recess, she went to her backpack and got it out.  
  
Spinelli went outside and shivered as the coldness felt like it jumped and impaled her. She saw Gus looking even more depressed, sitting on the benches alone. Maybe it wasn't too smart to just leave him without saying a thing. Anyway, she headed over to the jungle gym, trying to look normal again. The guards let her through without any signs of hesitation. She went up.  
  
"Hey," King Bob greeted her cheerfully.  
  
Spinelli bit her lip. How could he be so happy on a day like this, especially when it is so cold up on the jungle gym? She walked over and just outstretched her hand, holding the CD. He took it. "Thanks."  
  
Bob then looked up at her and finally got a good look at her face. ". . .Have you been crying?"  
  
"No," She simply stated. "The cold's getting to me. Seriously, like I would cry."  
  
"Are you sure?" He asked again.  
  
"Yes! Will you just stop asking?!" She suddenly snapped.  
  
"Um, okay." He said, looking kind of surprised.  
  
She left, and when the bell rung she walked to the school regretting everything she had just done. All he did was show concern for once and she had to ruin the moment. And how she had just left Gus wasn't exactly helpful either. Miss Grotke was standing in front of the door when everyone went inside. She stopped Spinelli. "Stay here for a while, will you?" She asked.  
  
Spinelli sat down on the steps waiting for the rest of the class to arrive. King Bob passed by, giving her a worried look. She looked away, like she was ashamed or something. The fourth grade class gathered around. TJ sat next to Spinelli. "What's wrong?" He asked.  
  
Spinelli just shook her head. She guessed it was time for HER to be gloomy. Miss Grotke announced to the class while looking at a clipboard, "The movie is ready, so can all of the people who I read loud, who had not turn in their permission slips, please stay outside so you can enjoy extra recess time?"  
  
The people who didn't get their slips signed cheered, and Spinelli raised her hand. "Miss Grotke, can I stay outside instead of watching the movie? I changed my mind."  
  
TJ made a weird noise next to her, and Miss Grotke wouldn't let her. Something about other people wanting to switch and too much confusion. After reading the names, the class that was aloud to see the movie went inside.  
  
"Spinelli, what are you talking about?" TJ asked. "What do you mean you 'changed your mind?' It's a PG-13 rated film in fourth grade, for crying out loud!"  
  
Spinelli shut her eyes, annoyed. "Because I just don't want to, okay?"  
  
TJ sighed. "Sure. . ."  
  
Throughout the whole movie, she kept getting those bad feelings. She didn't want to think about what the meaning could be of her dream and even didn't laugh when one of the characters said 'don't fuck with me.' After school, Spinelli and her friends were walking about, her eating a sour sucker in the shape of a yellow skull, which hustler kid gave her so she wouldn't beat him up.  
  
She was trying to get her tongue to split and bleed, hearing how that happened to a kid before and she wanted to try it for herself. They were once again debating on what monster could kill the other, which always cheered her up a bit. Vince was sticking to Dracula, TJ Frankenstein again, and Gretchen, Mikey and Gus weren't paying attention at all. Only Vince knew what it was, but Spinelli chose 'Pumpkinhead' to try and use something that wasn't very 'famous.' And anyway, debating always made her get rid of anger, especially when it talked about blood and death.  
  
"You don't seem to understand the fact that Pumpkinhead can easily POP Dracula's head in a second." Spinelli stated, licking her sour sucker.  
  
"Spinelli, I'm absolutely sure that whoever this pumpkin head guy is, Frankenstein can kick its butt in a MILLISECOND."  
  
"And that's coming from someone who doesn't know any OTHER movies." Spinelli rolled her eyes, getting offended again.  
  
"Oh? Then what do you know other than your weird 'pumpkinhead' crap?" Vince asked.  
  
Spinelli cleared her throat began quickly listing all of the movies, "Friday the 13th. Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, The Howling, Hellraiser, Child's Play, Jeepers Creepers, Darkness Falls, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Scream, I know what you did last summer, Urban Legend, Evil Dead, The Texas Chainsaw massacre, The Others, Children of the corn -"  
  
"Whoa! Just stop there." TJ said. Spinelli still had millions to list.  
  
"Okay. I bet you can't pick you favorite out of all of them." Vince stated.  
  
"Duh! Yes, I can. It's Evil Dead."  
  
"What's it about?" TJ asked. Spinelli didn't really want to make it sound good so they would see, because of the whole 'woods' scene. So she quickly said, "The living dead."  
  
"Oh, so does that make you a living dead girl?" TJ asked.  
  
"Yep." Spinelli said, thinking the name had a ring to it. "It does."  
  
- -  
  
All of their friends figured out that Gus was moving. Trying to be cheerful about it, they planned on going to a bunch of places that Gus wouldn't normally be able to do. It included laser tag, which Spinelli wanted to go to the most. He still had a couple of weeks, so it wouldn't be until a while. They always pretended to be in a good mood around him so it wouldn't hurt his feelings or something.  
  
It was Thursday, and Spinelli was home alone once again. It was typically raining, but not too hard. She finished watching the traditional 'Omen' movie, and was now in the kitchen searching through the refrigerator. No matter how many times she saw 'Omen' it always managed to creep her out. She pulled out a bottle of Coke and drank from the bottle, looking out the window of her front yard.  
  
She did a double take. Was someone on her property? Spinelli suddenly felt stupid for letting the movie take control for a second and then jumped a mile high when someone knocked on the door. Spinelli made her way to the door, unsure if she should open it or not. It was WAY too early for her parents to be home. She grabbed the handle and with a groan, quickly opened it.  
  
She laughed. Bob was standing outside soaking wet with his bangs hanging in front of his eyes. He grinned, and it kind of resembled a dog smiling at her. "Come on," she said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him inside.  
  
He shook his head, splattering her face with freezing rainwater. She winced.  
  
"Guess what?" Bob asked excitedly. She shrugged. "I kept my promise from about. . . a month ago! Have you ever heard of 'House of the dead?' "  
  
"No." Spinelli replied.  
  
"Oh, well, there's a new horror movie coming out." He said.  
  
"Okay. Why didn't you wait to tell me tomorrow? And how do you know where I live, anyway?"  
  
"I'd forget by then. And I was walking down the road and I recognized your car from when you where picked up from school because of the suspension." He said, wiping off water that was about to get in his eyes.  
  
"Oh. Right. I guess my parents are using the other car. Why were you just walking down the street like it's in the middle of the day?" She once again asked.  
  
"Some family constantly want me to take care of their cats when they're out of town. But as long as I get money, I'll do it." He said.  
  
"You know, you scared the living heck out of me." She said. "I was watching 'Omen' before you showed up."  
  
He laughed. "I know what you mean. I still KIND OF get A LITTLE freaked out."  
  
Spinelli rolled her eyes. "Right."  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw headlights coming and pull into the driveway, then jumped. "Oh, god! My parents are home! They'll kill me if you're here!"  
  
Before even having the chance to look over at the lights, Spinelli shoved him toward the kitchen. "We can use the back door! Hurry up!"  
  
Bob was shoved out into the rain. He turned around and blinked. "Wow. You're paranoid."  
  
"Shut up. . ." She grumbled and heard the front door open. "Oh, wait a sec!"  
  
He turned around and Spinelli quickly came out and gave him a quick kiss. He froze, hoping it was too dark to see him blushing. She walked backwards, now hearing her parents call her. "Bye." She whispered, hoping her parents wouldn't hear.  
  
Not able to say too much, Bob just waved. Spinelli gave him one last smile and then came back into the house. ". . .What?! You don't have to scream, for crying out loud!!" 


	7. 5 A notsoperfect end

6. A not-so-perfect ending  
  
Spinelli sat up with King Bob up on the jungle gym. Even though she pained to admit it, her eyes were only a LITTLE dry. I repeat, LITTLE. It had been a day since Gus had moved to Colorado. It seemed like the whole group had split up just because he had to leave. She felt so distant from everyone aside from Bob, because he was at least smart enough to not bug and harass her with questions though she snapped when he did something as little as open his mouth around her.  
  
So far, only Gretchen and Mikey seemed to still be hanging out. Vince occupied himself by trying to score goals in basketball even with a broken wrist, Spinelli always stayed in the company of Bob and TJ was never in the same place, but looking really depressed. Yes, they felt bad for each other but didn't feel like talking too much.  
  
What was worse is that Gus's parents decided to move a day early so they missed laser tag together and doing all of the things they had gotten Gus so excited about. So now Spinelli sat on the jungle gym with her legs hanging over the edge, not in the mood for fighting with Bob for the throne. Bob coughed, and she looked back giving him an expectant look. He raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. Everything seemed to be pissing her off lately.  
  
"Was it something I said?" He asked, meaning for it to be a joke.  
  
"No. Give me some space, will you?" Spinelli snapped.  
  
Now, it wasn't too easy to not get mad. For the whole day, Spinelli was acting really stupid around him for no apparent reason every time he tried to cheer her up. "Good god. . . Why do I even bother?"  
  
"Because you're too lazy, obviously."  
  
"At least I don't spend my time acting all depressed when friends try to help you just out of pity. And you're calling me lazy?"  
  
"PISS OFF! I'M SO FRIGGIN' SICK OF THE WAY YOU ACT!" Spinelli yelled. This obviously grabbed the attention of many kids.  
  
That finally did it. Bob only angrily glared. ". . . Guards?"  
  
Spinelli's jaw dropped. He WOULDN'T.  
  
Continuing, Bob said, "Take her away."  
  
They did and kind of grabbed her without too much force like they were hesitant. As they dragged her away, Spinelli clenched her teeth. "I HATE YOU!" She screamed at Bob and finally began kicking to get out of grasp.  
  
Once off the jungle gym and away from it, she paused and turned around. She glared for about a minute straight and then slowly smiled. That was very true. . . but obviously a lie.  
  
- - END - - 


End file.
